Dear People For supporter,
This Juneteenth, the People For family is down in Atlanta, one of the cradles of the civil rights movement, for our Big Ideas Summit. This gathering of dynamic movement leaders from our networks including clergy, young elected officials, and others has been inspiring ... and I’m inspired to share some thoughts with you as we commemorate this holiday about freedom.
On Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom in the most fundamental sense – freedom from enslavement. But the road to freedom remains long and fraught with challenges. Freedom was the objective at the heart of the civil rights movement. And to this day, the journey towards full freedom is still ongoing and incomplete for African Americans. I thank you for being part of this journey with all of us at People For the American Way.
My mind is on the word “freedom” today, in part, because it’s a term that has been hijacked and co-opted by the same bigoted forces on the Far Right who seek to deny freedom to so many of their fellow Americans.
The Far Right uses the rallying cry of “freedom” every chance they get, casting things that seem absurd to you and me as grave affronts to their personal freedom. Paying taxes is an affront to their “freedom.”
Another affront to their “freedom?” The notion that their ability to own military-grade weapons outweighs the right of a child or a teacher to go to school without losing their life to a bullet, or the right of elderly Black people to shop at a grocery store or attend a Bible study at their church without becoming the latest casualties of a mass shooting.
The real affront is that many – certainly not all, but many – of these people who mobilize around these perceived threats to their “freedom” are white supremacists who feel their “freedom” is threatened any time that historically marginalized people are able to take another step forward, to get one step closer to taking equal part in the American dream.
So this Juneteenth, I call on all of us in the movements for justice ... for democracy ... for fundamental human rights and the equal protection of those rights under the law to reclaim the word, the concept, and the rallying cry of freedom.
And that includes the freedom not to be killed by the very people whose job it is supposed to be to keep our communities safe.
Which leads me to one specific Big Idea that People For unveiled this week from our Summit in Atlanta: our new “All Safe” road map to reimagine public safety, stop police killings and better protect our communities on all fronts.
“All Safe” is the product of many months of painstaking research and innovation, and presents a true blueprint for transforming public safety at the local level that we’re working with mayors and other local elected officials to implement in their cities and towns. It proposes a four-pronged approach to reducing police violence:
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Restructure Public Safety Systems
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Hold Officers Accountable for their Actions
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Remove Unfit Officers
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Improve Recruitment Practices
I hope you’ll check out the All Safe: Transforming Public Safety report today — and talk to your local elected officials about how to implement these public safety strategies that make us all safer.
There is much work to do in the fight for freedom, justice and equity for African Americans, and I believe that there is no better day to commit ourselves to this work than Juneteenth.
I'm proud to work alongside you as we strive to make a better future for our nation and the world.
Take care,
Ben Jealous, President
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Do not reply directly to this e-mail. Please use [email protected]. Trouble viewing the email? THANK YOU for your support of People For the American Way! This email was sent to [email protected]. Reaching you over email is the best way we have to let you know about the ways you can take action to fight the Right Wing and defend our constitutional rights and values. If you have any thoughts, comments, or criticisms, or if there's a better email address at which to reach you, please let us know>> If you'd like to unsubscribe from our list, you can do that here>> Radical Right extremists are trying to turn back the clock on a century of advances in civil rights, women’s rights, workers’ rights, the social safety net and more… they’re waging an all-out assault on the fundamental pillars of our country – democracy, checks and balances, a fair and independent judicial branch, and core values like fairness, equality, and justice for all. People For is fighting back every day with: ✔ Grassroots organizing But we can’t do this vital work without the robust grassroots financial support of our members and activists.
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